


Coffee and Recourse

by prettyboydotexe



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11805993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboydotexe/pseuds/prettyboydotexe
Summary: Of course, his day couldn’t get any worse, right?Percy goes about wooing Nico in the exact wrong way, but it kind of works anyway.





	Coffee and Recourse

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written for fandom in a pretty long time, so fair warning!

Nico was having a very, very bad morning. First off, his phone decided to update during the night, canceling his morning alarm and already setting him back half an hour in his daily routine. Then, he was awoken quite rudely by Hazel’s infernal cat scratching at his bedroom door, only to yowl and turn tail as soon as it was opened. Normally, this wouldn’t bother him so much, but then he stepped on the ‘gift’ Arion had left him. So, with heavy eyelids and a dead mouse wrapped in tissues, Nico stumbled into the cramped little kitchen.

Of course, his day couldn’t get any worse, right?

Then the coffee pot wouldn’t turn on. A quick glance around found a sticky note from Hazel explaining the power had flickered that morning and the coffee pot hadn’t came back on. Wonderful. The themed continued after that, and by the time he walked into work that morning (only ten minutes late, so it wasn’t that bad), he’d stepped on a dead rat, had a cold shower, and no coffee.

“Nico! There you are! Did you see- oh, honey, are you feeling okay?” Piper met him before he made it to the cubicles, holding his face between her hands and moving him from side to side.

“Yeah, yeah, Pipes, I’m fine. It’s just been a morning,” he mumbled in response, maneuvering out of her grasp and making to walk to his cubicle. “What were you talking about before..?”

“Someone sent some mass email out to everyone. It’s pretty weird, have you gotten it?”

“I don’t know, haven’t checked my email yet. Weird how? You’re not giving me another virus, are you? You know I can’t deal with Leo before twelve…”

“That was one time, yeesh. No, it’s totally safe, I swear,” he gave her a look before dropping down into his chair and spun around to face his desk top, powering it up. He only went to his email when she hovered, prodding him on with her presence alone,

“If I check it, will you leave me alone so I can do my job?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at her, one eyebrow arched.

“Probably.”

“Fine,” he sighed, though he did have to check his email anyway. He actually used it for office correspondence, unlike some people. At the top of his inbox were three messages, two from his boss asking about time lines and profit margins, and the other was a media message, with the subject saying simply ‘chose’.

“That’s the one!” Piper pointed at his screen, poking it with her nail. He flinched and brushed her hand away, she was making the colors smear. “Open it.”

“No, I was totally just going to leave it unattended so you could spend all day pestering me.”

“Crank, cranky. What if I were Hazel?”

“Hazel doesn’t harass me in my own cubicle. She waits until we get home to do that,” Nico rolled his eyes, opening up the email under Piper’s guidance. His frown only deepened at its contents. “What in Hades?”

“It’s a poll! We all got it! You click the picture of your choice and it hyperlinks you to a page with the result. They’re already tied,” she explained, motioning to the two pictures on the screen, distorted by the poor quality of Nico’s monitor. The email contained two pictures, both selfies of Percy and Jason, probably ones the two men had considered ‘attractive’. Personally, Nico preferred candids, posed pictures just looked dumb. Call him a romantic, he was Italian. “Who’re you voting for?”

“I’m not,” Nico closed the email, spinning around to face Piper so he could fix her with tired, irritable eyes. “I said I’d look at it, not that I’d participate. Piper, we’re good friends, and any other time I’d love to play along, but I’m tired. I just wanna do my job, go home, and eat the leftover ossobuco I’ve been saving. Please.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave you to it,” Piper lifted her hands in surrender, taking a step back with a smile. “Take it easy today, alright? I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks, Pipes. See you,” Nico breathed a sigh of relief as she left, turning back to his computer to actually start his work day.

 

* * *

 

Nico was halfway through the month’s expense reports allotted to him when there’s yet another intruder in his cubicle. This time, it’s Jason, but he comes bearing gifts, so Nico lets it slide.

“I come with coffee and passable breakfast foods,” he announced, dropping a paper bag on Nico’s desk, handing him a still piping hot coffee. Nico peeked through the gap in the lid, the coffee was black, like his soul. Perfect. “There’s a muffin in the bag, I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just picked.”

“Oh, thanks. As long as it’s not-”

“It’s banana nut.”

“-Banana nut.”

“Oh,” Jason’s face flushed red, and suddenly there was Percy Jackson in his doorway. He looked the same as always. Artful bed head, button up untucked in the front, top two buttons undone to show just a sliver of skin. Honestly, Nico had no idea how he managed to look so professional and no immature at the same time. It pissed him off.

“Jeez, Grace, what kind of friend are you? Nico has a nut allergy,” Percy grinned, already making to crowd into Nico’s space to exchange the offending muffins. “Hey, Neeks! Piper said you were having a rough start. So, that’s why I brought blueberry!” In the process, however, Percy overestimated just how much room was in Nico’s assigned space, bumping just enough into Jason to knock Nico’s elbow, who was right in the middle of taking his first sip. Coffee dripped down the front of his shirt, sticking it to his chest and creating a small puddle in his keyboard. “Shit.”

Nico looked from his coffee, to his lap, to the two men currently staring at him with wide, doe-like eyes. He’d think it was almost cute, if they weren’t currently the two biggest assholes on the planet. He took one steadying breath in, and let it out slowly, clenching his empty fist on the arm of his chair.

“Get. Out,” the Italian grits out, glaring daggers at the two. They make their excuses, Percy saying he hears Annabeth, who isn’t even in the country, calling him, and Jason claiming to have tax reports to file, before bolting. Nico sat back in his chair once they were gone, the coffee cooling and sticking to his shirt to his chest. His keyboard made a sad gurgling noise as the coffee settled between the keys. Heaving a sigh, Nico reached for his phone to page Leo.

 

* * *

 

 

“Someone call for a repair man?”

“You know I did,” Nico sighed, mopping up coffee from the carpeting, long since having given up on his shirt. “I need a new keyboard. Hurricane Idiot swept through.”

“Someone’s a crank. What crawled up your ass today? Or better yet, who didn’t?” Leo waggled his eyebrows, reminding Nico why exactly he didn’t enjoy their little chats. Ever since Leo had gotten with Calypso, the secretary up front, he’d been doing his best to play matchmaker.

“I’m just having a rough morning. Can you replace it, please? I have work to do.”

“Alright, alright. I see how it is,” Leo snickered, already under Nico’s desk to unplug the necessary cables. “Did you see the poll? I voted for Jason.”

“Yeah, I saw it.”

“Well? Who’d you vote for?”

“I didn’t.”

“No shit? Why not?” Leo untangled the cords, removing the keyboard with deft hands. Nico would have long since gotten annoyed by the mass of plastic and cut it out. It was broken anyway.

“They’re both stupid in their own rights, but they’re my best friends. I’m not gonna choose between them.”

“So… it’s Percy.”

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

“Yeah, you’re not choosing. But dude, we all know you pick Percy. It’s just a fact of life,” Leo plugged the new keyboard into Nico’s computer, giving it a few taps to test it out. “There we go, right as rain, my grumpy friend.”

“Get out of my cubicle,” Nico sighed, pushing the paper bag containing the banana muffin into Leo’s chest as he passed.

“Going, going, gone. See ya’!”

Nico fell back into his chair, basking in the peace and quiet once more. It was nearing lunch time. Lunch time meant Nico could run across the street to the outlet, hopefully to find a new shirt that wouldn’t break the bank. His pants were dark, and had gotten the least amount of coffee on them, his shirt, however, was a lost cause.

At twelve o’clock on the dot, Nico slipped out of the office. Hopefully, he could get a snack while he was out.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Nico’s shopping trip had not gone according to plan. The only stores that carried anything remotely close to what Nico needed were far out of his price range. He may have come from a rich family, but he’d stopped taking his father’s money when he left the house at eighteen and didn’t look back. He didn’t make a lot as an office monkey, just enough to pay rent, buy groceries, and occasionally rent a movie with his sister on the weekends.

He was forced into some rinky-dink little store, clearance shopping. The universe must have really wanted to fuck with him that day, because the only thing he found was a cheesy, bright red hawaiian shirt, complete with vibrant toucan’s and colorful blooms in various patterns. It was oversized, short sleeved, and horrifyingly eye catching. Everything Nico hated, he hated Percy and Jason for bringing him coffee, he hated his phone for not going off, and he hated himself for his shitty, horrible day.

The way back to the office was agonizing, despite it only lasting a handful of minutes. People stopped and stared, Nico grimaced and kept his head down., wishing he’d remembered to take his jacket this morning despite the sweltering heat of mid-July. Granted, he hadn’t anticipated two idiots vying for his affections-votes-whatever.

“Not a word,” he grumbled at Piper as he passed her desk. She’d stopped mid-bite of her lunch, eyes wide and a slow grin making its way onto her features. Nico huffed and continued his trek, straight past four more cubicles into his own, throwing himself into his seat. He would get those reports down if it killed him, dammit. Except… now there was a bag on his desk. Not the paper bags from breakfast, but one with a local sub shop’s logo emblazoned across the front, along with a single sticky note.

 

>  
> 
> _Nico,_
> 
> _Sorry about the coffee mess this morning._
> 
> _Here’s lunch to make up for it!_   
>  _I’m really sorry,_ _  
>  _ _  
>  Love, your (hopefully still) friend,_
> 
> _Jason_

 

Nico shook his head with a laugh and a slight smile. If he knew Jason well enough, and he liked to think that he did, this wasn’t Jason trying to beat Percy in whatever competition they had going on. This was Jason actually feeling bad, about something that wasn’t even really his fault, and apologizing for it as best he could without bothering Nico further. He made a mental note to thank Jason later and dug into his lunch, he could fill in reports and eat at the same time.

 

* * *

 

It was ten minutes before Nico was supposed to leave, and the rest of the day had gone off without a hitch. Nico had finished off the last of his reports and sent them in, even starting on Monday’s workload already, so of course, something had to happen.

“Hey, Neeks, got a second?” Percy popped his head into the cubicle, almost like he was trying to scope it out, to see if Nico was going to bite his head off at the slightest misstep. “I wanted to apologize about earlier…”

“Relax, Percy, it’s alright,” Nico sighed, rolling his shoulders as he saved out of his word document.  “I’ve calmed down. I’m sorry for biting your head off earlier.”

“Nah, man, it’s fine. That coffee was _hot,_ I totally get it,” Percy grinned, stepping all the way into Nico’s space. “I actually came to apologize… and see if you wanted to head to Apollo’s with me tonight? Get a couple drinks?”  

“Percy…”

“I know it’s not your thing, I was just hoping maybe you would? If it’s just us and not a group?”

“I appreciate the offer, Percy, but I really just wanna go home. I’m not really interested in going out just so you can try to sway my vote in your poll. I don’t wanna vote, Perce. I’m not choosing between my best friends,” Nico sighed, filing away the last of his work.

“I understand,” Percy shrugged nonchalantly, stepping back out of the confined space. “I’ll catch you later then. Text me if you change your mind.”

“Later…” Nico looked up, but Percy had disappeared just as fast as he’d appeared. He shrugged, Percy was always weird in some way or another, before clocking out and making his way home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!!  
> Make sure to leave me any feedback you guys have, or just comments in general.  
> Like I said, it's been a while, so I might be a little rusty.  
> Let me know what you think!! Either here or via my tumblr, which is by the same name


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